Tage Ljungberg grew up on a farm in the Swedish province of Småland. This is what happened next:

• He received a scholarship to study in Stockholm and moved to the Swedish capital in 1938.
• He started out his career by rebuilding “Stockholmstidningen” for Torsten Kreuger (who had been the previous owner of Häringe palace) and moved onto building residential villas in the affluent suburb of Stocksund. Tage was weary of risk and did not like to rely too much on banks. He built a solid family business that relied on ethics and long-term clients. As an example he partnered with Sweden’s most luxurious hotel, Grand Hotel, in Stockholm for 26 years.
• Tage passed away at 95 years of age, at which point he was still living in the villa he himself built for his family in 1947.

Tage relished the idea that his grandchildren were active in the firm as well and kept a scrapbook of all things written about his companies.